Beautiful
by handsomelawbringer
Summary: He was breaking so many rules by bringing her, a native of Pandora, the very planet that Hyperion—no, Handsome Jack—had pledged to purge of the likes of her, to Helios, but he didn't care. Times were changing, Pandora was changing, Hyperion was changing, he was changing.


Game: Borderlands

Pairing: Rhys/Sasha

Genre: Romance

Rating: K+

Beautiful

"It's so…"

Rhys blinked and looked over at Sasha as her voice trailed off. She was standing in front of one of the many wide windows that opened up onto Pandora from Helios, her nose nearly touching the glass, quick, excited breaths fogging it on and off. Her hands were pressed securely against the pane, doubtless leaving smudgy fingerprints. Her eyes were wide, mouth flopped open gracelessly, and there was a slight pink flush to her cheeks that he'd only seen once before.

Rhys swallowed audibly.

She was…

"You ok?"

Rhys started at her question, blinked again and gave his head a little shake as he unfolded his arms from where they rested across his chest. "Huh…what?"

Sasha raised her left eyebrow. "That noise. Sounded like a skag swallowing a rakk. So…you ok?"

"Oh, that? That noise? That was…uh….that was…" Rhys looked around frantically for help, eyeing a vent. "That was…the A.C. Yeah."

Sasha pursed her lips.

"No, really. You'd think living up on Helios is all martinis and flashy suits all the time, but it isn't. When you're not busy making sure someone isn't trying to kill you or sabotaging the competition, you've got the artificial elements to battle and it's hard to keep good maintenance crews around, because if it isn't just _so_ , Jack—" He broke off, realizing he was about to talk about Jack in the present tense. But Jack wasn't present. Handsome Jack was gone. Handsome Jack was _dead_.

"Let me guess: Jack would kill them," Sasha supplied.

Rhys gave her a grim look. "There are things worse than death."

Sasha's eyes darkened. "Tell me about it."

Rhys could have smacked himself. Felix. Of course.

"Hey—there's this one part called the Veins that still isn't finished," he ventured in an attempt to take her mind off of the past couple months of her life. "Rumor has it, a parasitic disease caused the workers to become cannibalistic and—and—you…probably…don't need to hear that right now, do you?"

"Yeeaahhh….no."

As curious as Sasha had been to see Pandora from above, convincing her to step foot on a space station—a _Hyperion_ owned space station no less—had taken some time and just about every word in the dictionary that Rhys knew. And to tell her about space cannibals….

 _Smooth Rhys, smooth._

"But that was the A.C. The noise. A.C."

"Ooook….Whatever you say, Rhys," she said with a light laugh and a shrug before going back to admiring her homeworld. Rhys let out a relieved breath.

It—the rocky orb hanging in space that was Pandora—was a view he had grown accustomed to, walked past at least a hundred times without batting an eye. When one lived and worked on a space station, one did not find the endless expanse of inky black filled with dots of white particularly awe-inspiring. Oh sure, it had been at first, but it hadn't taken long for the novelty and the worries that came with it—what if there was a rupture in the hull? What if a Zarpa-chick-wannabe took over? What if the toilets backed up and the artificial gravity failed?—to wear off.

But for Sasha…

"That!" she suddnely exclaimed excitedly, jabbing a finger forcefully towards the planet thousands of miles beneath their feet while at the same time grabbing his arm and pulling him towards her. He nearly tripped over his own two feet, so unprepared was he for the sudden relocation, but he managed to keep his balance. Sasha, so caught up in her excitement, didn't notice. He didn't mind. "There! That's where I live!" A pause, a frown. "...I think."

Rhys smiled.

He was breaking so many rules by bringing her, a native of Pandora, the very planet that Hyperion—no, _Handsome Jack_ —had pledged to purge of the likes of her, to Helios, but he didn't care. Times were changing, Pandora was changing, Hyperion was changing, _he_ was changing.

And Handsome Jack was gone.

His eyebrows drew together as he searched his mind for any remnants of Jack's consciousness.

Silence.

It was just him, just Rhys.

"You're doing it again."

Sasha's voice broke him out of his reverie. He blinked several times and gave his head a little shake.

"Uh…what? What was I doing?"

She gave him that grin of hers that was specially reserved for him, cocked her head to the side and leaned back on her left leg, arms folding across her chest. "The creepy thing."

"What? Oh, that? Creepy thing? Staring? No, no, I wasn't," he laughed nervously, ran his robotic fingers through his thick, brown hair.

"Uh-huh," Sasha said in a tone that wasn't convinced, drummed her fingers along her bicep.

"Yu-huh."

They stared at each other for a moment, Sasha with her mischievous grin, Rhys with his awkward half-grimace half-smile.

She was…

"Beautiful."

"What was that?"

"Uh…" Had he said that out loud? The look from Sasha—hands moving to defiantly grip her hips, one eyebrow raised—was telling him that he had. He shook his head.

 _Idiot._

But…

He glanced at her out of the corner of his blue eye.

…he had meant it.

Beautiful.

That's what the view of Pandora was. That's what _she_ was.

Beautiful.

"I said…you're beautiful."

Sasha blinked, her eyes going wide again. She opened her mouth but no words came out. Feeling bold, but still incredibly apprehensive, Rhys took a cautious step toward her.

"So, uh," he said nervously. "I'm, uh, gonna, uh, hug you now, so, uh, please…please don't…nutshot me…or…or….something…"

"O…ok…."

Slowly crossing the few inches that stood between them, Rhys opened his arms, hesitated. He'd hugged others before, like Vaughn, but this was different. This wasn't a bro-hug. This wasn't a hug he'd give his mom. This was… "Uh…"

"Do I have to do everything?"

A jolt went through his body as Sasha wrapped her arms around him. Every nerve in his being went off at once, and he was quite certain he'd died and gone to heaven. The relief, the excitement, the…whatever this really amazing, happy thing flooding his veins was doing to him…it was the best thing he'd ever felt and he was going to pass out.

"Breathe, Rhys."

Rhys breathed.

"Now wrap your arms around me and don't let go."

Rhys wrapped his arms around her and didn't let go.


End file.
